The M10 was the lowest cost entry to the high end controllers. And it was on my list to buy, unless a compelling cheaper product was coming out (which I had been waiting for because AVID reps said this would happen with an S4)

Now it turns out this S4 has faders that I wouldn't touch in such a premium product and it is more expensive in its basic form than it's predecessor.
While marketed as being cheaper: "finally an option for the smaller studios and education market." Which it definitely is not, that option was there all along called the M10. The S4 is actually more expensive now.

The only reason I'm looking to upgrade the S3 I have is because of it's cheap feeling faders, which annoy me (after working with ICON's for almost a decade).

If the M10 was such a failed product? Why is it being replaced by an inferior quality product that has pretty much the same functionality? Just for the optional displays?
Then why not include the displays as standard, if nobody is buying them without displays?

Or why not just bring the M10+ option to market and save the S4 for a product that actually sits in between the S3 and the S6.